Soon, a new app to help citizens fight state’s Internet blockade

Scientists have designed an app to help citizens fight back when a country”s access to social networks, or the entire Internet, is lost.

James Burke and Chris Pinchen’s idea behind the ChokePoint Project is to assemble a real-time interactive map of the entire Internet and identify potential choke points – locations where Internet access could be easily compromised – and who has the power to strangle them, reports New Scientist.

ChokePoint Project”s map would also allow people to identify the degree and exact location of a network outage and empower them to circumvent the blockade, says Burke.

This can be done either by routing through open paths, or using services located abroad, which converts messages sent to fax machines into emails.

“With every country in the world sending network data, over time we”ll see the trends of big data patterns,” Burke said.